Robert W.M. Smith
Research Engineer
The Pennsylvania State University

For the past 8 years Bob Smith has been engaged in applications and R&D work in the area of thermoacoustics for the Office of Naval Research, and most recently on the Ben and Jerry's thermoacoustic freezer project.  As one of the inventors on a number of patents and patent applications for thermoacoustic devices and related technologies, Smith had primary responsibility for the mechanical engineering aspects of the B&J project.

Smith earned both his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and his Master of Science degree in Engineering Mechanics at Penn State where he has been employed for the past 15 years on diverse research projects.  During his first four years at the University, he worked in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics on telescope mirrors as part of the development effort for the Hobby-Eberly telescope, currently the largest in the continental U.S. For this effort he worked on 1-meter diameter telescope mirrors, performing optical figuring, thermal measurements and optical testing, much of the latter carried out in an abandoned 85 foot elevator shaft in PSU's Beaver Stadium.  Subsequently, he worked in the Department of Electrical Engineering where he provided opto-mechanical engineering expertise for the construction of laser-based instruments (LIDAR) used to characterize the earth's atmosphere and remotely sense atmospheric temperature, pressure, relative humidity and ozone concentration.

 

 

Other members of the personnel: Steven L. Garrett, Jin Liu, Matthew E. Poese